


Doves

by Elalavella, TK_DuVeraun



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adventure, Descriptions of Anxiety, Drama, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Phobias, Referenced Drowning, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, my god they're too cute, some found family, you will die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-06-10 23:04:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15302004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elalavella/pseuds/Elalavella, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TK_DuVeraun/pseuds/TK_DuVeraun
Summary: Inquisition companions Ada'alvhen Elashorei Lin'samahl and Faust Sa'alle met before Inquisitor Ciel brought them together. Shared trials build a foundation for a relationship that's far too soft for the harsh realities of the Inquisition.--Reposting of tumblr ficlets for organizational purposes.





	1. Water

**Author's Note:**

> All chapters are posted in chronological order, not the order in which they were written, so new chapters may be added in the middle. This is the same main characters as the [Power Couple AU](https://archiveofourown.org/series/994356), but with an AU of that where they meet as teenagers. Each chapter will link to the original posting, but some corrections and changes may have been made for posting here.
> 
> Some characters in the universe belong to the following creators:
> 
> Amrita - [LutraGem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LutraGem/pseuds/LutraGem)  
> Mead, Ela - [Elalavella](https://elalavella.tumblr.com/)  
> Terenti - [Super_Nerd92](https://super-nerd92.tumblr.com/)  
> Ilena - [Ghilenan](http://ghilenan.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Please follow everyone on Tumblr for the most up-to-date postings, art, memes and general fun content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Original posting](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/174988106569/young-teen-13-15-yrs-d).

Ada’alvhen couldn’t bring herself to move. She was cold to the bone and her clothes were heavy with water and mud, but even moreso with guilt. She was simply going to become a part of the muddy bank. She couldn’t leave Lhunie behind. Not during the attack and definitely not now. She was already a failure of an older sister, she couldn't abandon her baby sister. Eventually, she heard someone cursing in a foreign language. She didn’t know the words, but the sound of swearing was ubiquitous. Not that she cared.

“Blight take it all; are you alright?” A warm voice said before searing hands touched her shoulders and turned her onto her back. Through no fault of her own, Ada’alvhen found herself looking up into clear blue eyes. It was a human: a man with long, red hair. One of his hands gently patted her cheek until she blinked and moved a bit. “Still conscious. Good.”

His hands moved back to her shoulders and a sudden warmth infused her, starting in the center of her chest and radiating out through her entire body. She moaned in pain as it reached her frozen finger and toes. 

“Shh, you’ll be alright,” he said before lifting her out of the mud. “Let’s get you wrapped up in some blankets.”

Ada’alvhen turned in his arms and reached back for the lake bed. “No,” she said, but her voice was weak and broken. “No, I can’t leave her.”

“Shh, she’ll never forgive you if you die now." His voice was as warm as his magic and started to poke through the frozen haze in her mind. "You have to plant a tree, right? That’s how it works for the Dalish, isn’t it?”

Ada struggled against him, trying to get back to bank, back to Lhunie. “No. No, no, I don’t want to be alone.”

“You won’t be. It’ll be alright, I promise. I’ve got you.”


	2. Window Dressing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Original link](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175087083814/10-we-cant-keep-this-up-forever).

“We can’t keep this up forever, Young Master,” Ivan said. He was leaned against a tree, looking past their campfire into the darkness. 

Fox himself sat close to the fire, Ada’alvhen’s head in his lap while she slept. She was still fighting off the last ravages of the sickness she picked up from laying so long in the cold mud before Fox found her. She was wrapped up in Fox’s blanket and his last remaining spare set of clothing. Fox had to keep her curled in a warming spell or she’d start shivering, but that was a price he was more than willing to pay. He looked up at his guardian and didn’t fight the way he defensively held on to Ada. “Can’t keep what up?”

“Staying only to the wilderness. Even if you had more surviving clothes, you’ve nearly outgrown what you’re in. Never mind that we both of may as well scream that we’re Tevinter the moment someone catches sight,” Ivan shrugged. “It’s not a good choice, but we need to go to Hercinia before you two are both walking around starkers.”

“It should be fine, shouldn’t it? It’s a port city. Strange people are in and out of it all of the time,” Fox said. He absentmindedly combed his fingers through Ada’s long, blonde hair.

“We’re too close to Rivain. The templars are out in force on the lookout for mages and you use magic like you need it to breathe, Faust.”

Fox flinched both at the truth and the use of his birth name. Ivan only called him by name when he was being scolded. “I can control myself.”

“Can you? When someone grabs her arm and calls her ‘knife-ear’ will you be able to stop yourself from sparking?”

Fox sighed and looked down at Ada. Feeling guilty, he started braiding her hair. “What do you suggest, then?”

“Magebane.”

“Can we afford that? I know I stole a lot of gold, but you haven’t been able to sell the jewels off yet,” Fox said. He knew his argument was insincere, that he didn’t want to be cut off from his magic, but it was still  _true_.

“It’s cheaper here in the South. I could likely get some free from a chantry if I claimed to be a mage hunter.”

Fox shook his head. “That’s terrible…”

“You’re not defenseless without your magic; I’ve seen to that.”

“I know.” A loud sigh left him. “I still don’t like it.”

“Nor should you. I’ll go in tomorrow, get her a dress and a hat to mask the ears. Her face is fine enough that she can pass for a ward of the Family. Teach her what Orlesian you know while I’m gone. I’ll take you both in the next day,” Ivan said.

Fox tied off Ada’s braid with a piece of blue ribbon. “Will a hat be good enough?”

“It’ll have to be. Even if your illusion would hold, we can’t risk anyone feeling the magic.”

* * *

Ada was still weak and cold from fever when they walked their horses into the port city of Hercinia. Even though the Blight was years past, the gate guards looked her over suspiciously for signs of Blight sickness. Fox was little better, crippled as he was by magebane. After they stabled their horses, Ada walked practically on top of Fox’s feet. She clung to his hand, but not out of weakness.

Hercinia bustled with trade: everywhere she looked humans clomped around, loud and aggressive and walking too close. All of the smells were wrong and everything was so impossibly  _loud_. She was afraid, but also afraid of  _looking_  afraid, so she clutched Fox’s hand so tightly it was as pale as her own.

The tailor was deep in the city, far from the harbor and the smell that came with it. He was a thin, swarthy man that was as brusque as his clothes were well-made. Very.

Ada shook like a leaf at the first time he glanced at her and Fox felt so struck by inspiration he may as well have zapped himself with a Lightning spell. His expression must have reflected something of it because Ivan immediately said, “I trust there will be no issues in outfitting the Young Master and his companion.” The warning in his tone was for Fox, but the tailor didn’t take it that way.

“I, serah, am a professional.” The tailor's words were terse and clipped and he narrowed his eyes at the lot of them.

“You had best be,” Fox said, stressing his Tevinter accent as much as he could and lifting his chin to look down his nose at the tailor. He knew Ivan would be cursing if he could, but he didn’t spare his guardian a look, no altus would give the time of day to the help.

With an irritated twitch of his mustache, the tailor had Fox undress and stand up on a stool. Fox did as instructed, but added the slight flare to his movements that his sisters always used. He waited until the tailor was measuring him from shoulder to wrist, then he turned the inside of his arm up, revealing fresh scratches. They were from climbing a tree, but to a high class tailor? “Shame I can’t wear proper robes here in the South,” Fox said to be certain the tailor got the wrong idea.

Ivan certainly did with the way he glared daggers at Fox from behind the tailor. 

Fox could hear Ada shift uncomfortably in her chair, but pushed that aside for the moment. He had an act to finish. The tailor’s movements were stiff and mechanical. When he finished with Fox, he said not a word, just gestured that he could redress. As he stepped down from the stool, Fox spoke with the cruel hiss his mother had perfected. “No one touches the girl but me.”


	3. Discretion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Original Link](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175051564994/from-the-prompt-list-109-why-are-you-naked). [ Section three](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175464441594/come-lay-down-in-my-lap-its-okay-to-cry>%20Second%20two</a>.%20<a%20href=).

A choked squeak drew Ada’s attention behind her. She turned around and looked through her hair at Fox. His face was nearly as red as his hair and he was making quiet strangling noises. “Fox? Are you alright?”

“Why are you naked?”

Ada blinked at him and pushed her wet hair over her shoulder. This made him choke again. “I’m washing up?”

“I’m just… Going to go back to camp.” Fox’s movements were stiff and wooden. He even tripped over a thick tree root and scrambled to his feet.

“Are you okay? You look like you could use some cool-”

“Fine! I’m fine! Completely, totally fine!” Fox said, even as he tripped again. Lightning magic sparked all around him, but he fled before Ada could even get out of the river. She looked down at herself and frowned. Was she ugly? Human women looked about the same, didn’t they? Did he just… not like her? He was pretty tan. Maybe she was too pale for him.

She bit her lip and ducked back under the water.

* * *

 

“You have a nice laugh,” Ada said.

On the other side of the campfire, Fox froze. Slowly, he turned toward her, eyes wide and as surprised as a halla seeing lightning. “Eh?!”

The sound was so bizarre and unexpected, that Ada couldn’t help but laugh. She didn’t notice Ivan trying to make eye-contact and shaking his head until it was too late. She looked back at Fox, but he’d pulled his knees up to his chest and was staring morosely into the fire, all of the pleased enjoyment wiped off his features. That’s when Ada realized that she’d never heard him laugh before. Not once, in a full year of travelling together. He would smirk, sometimes give a quiet huff of a laugh, but that muted chuckle had been the first time.

With a sigh, Ada stood and moved over, not sitting down until she was nearly touching Fox. “It really is nice, you know. I wasn’t just saying.”

Fox shook his head and then angled himself slightly away from her.

She didn’t talk about her own problems. Fox had had to drag hers out and even then he only knew that she was an orphan and that Lhunie had… had… She squeezed her eyes shut. It wasn’t about her. Not this time. She touched his shoulder. “What’s wrong with laughing?”

When he still said nothing, Ada set her gaze on Ivan, but he shook his head. “It’s not my place to say, Ada. Best let it drop.”

“No,” Fox finally said. “It’s… It’s not fine, but… There was no laughter in that house. It wasn’t allowed, even in the servants’ quarters. If they ever found out…” Fox looked down at where his hands were linked around his legs. “I may not have been one of them, but I still wasn’t the one punished if I transgressed.”

Making a sound like a wounded animal, Ada leaned over and pulled Fox into a hug. It was strange to pull  _his_  head under  _her_  chin, but it felt right in the moment. “You don’t have to laugh if you don’t want to. But I’ll always be happy to hear it.”

Ivan made a noise of quiet agreement across the camp.

* * *

After she understood Fox’s reluctance to laugh, Ada took it into her own hands to make him do it as much as possible. There wasn’t terribly much to joke about in the wilderness of the Free Marches and Antiva, but Ada was  _very good_  at exploiting Fox’s ticklish spots. For one, there were many. For two, his light armor didn’t do much to protect him from quick and nimble fingers.

Her results were mixed. The laughs were progressively more natural, yes, but he would still shift quickly into quiet sadness and retreat away from her. And then he felt guilty when that retreat clearly upset Ada, so she wasn’t entirely sure it was the right thing to do, but Ivan hadn’t stopped her yet…

Two weeks after the revelation about Fox’s reluctance to laugh, a cold snap hit, making Fox jumpy and on edge. He snapped at both her and Ivan and rode his horse wrapped up in his blanket under his cloak with magic crackling in the air around him. When they made camp, Fox sat down and the log in front of him immediately burst into flames.

He didn’t help otherwise, but Ada didn’t expect him to, not after the last winter. She knew he was non-functional, at best in the cold, so she helped Ivan set up the tent and cook dinner and then pressed herself and her blanket next to him while she ate.

As usual for the first cold day, Fox barely picked at his food, simply staring at the campfire as if he wanted it to consume him. She hoped it didn’t.

“People are mostly made of water, you know,” Fox said, apropos of nothing. “Inside of us all of the time, just sloshing around.” He dumped the rest of his soup - most of it, really - into Ada’s bowl and then poured some water into his own. He pulled a piece of charcoal out of the fire and scratched a black line at the top of the water in his bowl.

Ada frowned, not understanding, but watching carefully.

Fox bared his teeth and hissed out a breath, but the water in his bowl frozen instantly from Frost magic. The black line inside the bowl was gone. He scratched a new one at the top of the ice and then tossed away the charcoal. He melted the ice with a snap of his fingers.

There was a marked space between the lines. There had been more ice than there was water.

“So what happens when you freeze all of that water inside of people?” Fox asked, his whisper barely louder than the crackling fire.

Ada didn’t want to think about it. Whatever happened, it was horrible. She pressed herself closer against Fox, hoping he’d make  _her_  warm for once.

“That family freezes anyone that displeases them.”

 

 


	4. Crux

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Original link](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175729539029/crux).

“Keep your head down” should have been an easy-enough instruction. Fox just had to look exactly like what he was: a noble son in exile. The Free Marches were full of minor nobles with disputed claims across the city-states. The commoners knew better than to offend someone who  _could_ have power over them and the other nobles were wary of unwittingly breaking alliances. But apparently Ada’s burgeoning beauty wasn’t hidden enough by her felt hat and some Comte’s son thought he had a claim on her.

Though it cost him, Fox had stood silently by as Ivan acted as the retainer he no longer was and explained to the fop in no uncertain terms that Ada was spoken for. The idiot had ignored the warning and grabbed for her. With warrior’s speed, Ada had dodged the hand, but it had knocked her hat to the ground and revealed her elf ears. The entire street had gone silent then as she, red-faced, scooped the hat up and placed it on her head without even dusting it off.

That should have been the last of it. The comte’s son should have lost all interest on seeing the truth of her race, but whether out of spite or lust, he’d sent a contingent of men on the road after them.

“Faust…” Ivan said.

His jaw clenched instinctively at the use of his real name. “I know.”

“We’re close to the Antivan border-”

“I  _know_. I won’t use magic,” Fox repeated. He looked over his shoulder and there Ada was, hunched low over her mare’s neck. She’d changed back in her leather armor as soon as they’d left Ansburg and her great sword was firmly strapped to her back, but it was the guilt, not the metal that weighed heavily on her.

As soon as the approaching mercs were defeated, she’d insist that she could find her own way, that they didn’t have to look after her, that she’d be fine on her own. She dismounted without a word and lead her mare into the brush with Fox and Ivan’s geldings. Though her sword was nearly as long as she was tall, she held it easily and stood with a firm stance.

Fox drew his staff, though it was truly a modified glaive. The pole glowed in the dying light with runes white from enchantments. The only focusing crystal was inset in the heavy blade made of rare steel. It glowed an icy blue and magic crackled from it along the blade. It could pass for any other enchanted weapon, but only just.

Ivan carried a short sword with a plain hilt and crossguard that belied its quality. On his left arm, he wore a heater shield with his family’s personal heraldry. The moment the mercenaries dismounted to storm the brush where they’d ostensibly made camp, Ivan used his shield to bash one in the face. He cut the stunned man’s throat with his sword before whistling the sharp note that signaled Fox and Ada into action.

It was far from Fox’s first skirmish, but between the close-press of the trees and brush and the proximity to Ansburg and its templars, he couldn’t use his fire magic. While Ivan’s enchanted blade was immune, Fox’s lightning magic would arc straight from their foes onto Ada’s sword with enough power to stun her, even through her leather gloves. It was a struggle to keep from tensing or over-extending as he fought next to her. If he could just use his  _magic_ it would be so much easier, but no, he had to swing his glaive around and block strikes his metal vambraces even though they shook his bones like a cold snap.

Fox and Ada whirled together, their braids clashing with each other even as their blades cut through the mercenaries. Ivan stayed away from them, preventing flanks and ensuring that none of the mercenaries escaped to report back to their master. Fox wasn’t using magic, true, but it was still a risk they couldn’t take. Not for a runaway Tevinter mage and a beautiful Dalish girl.

When the last of the sellswords fell, Fox dropped his glaive to the ground, but with the thick underbrush it didn’t even have a satisfying clatter. He was bloody, tired and everything hurt. He turned his back on the sellswords, unwilling to watch Ivan methodically slit their throats, no matter how necessary. Ada was leaning against a tree, her forehead pressed to the bark, but at least she wasn’t sick like the other times. He reached out to touch her shoulder, but flinched back. Half an arrow was sprouting from her shoulder. “Ada… You’re injured.”

She turned her head and looked at him through wisps of white-blonde hair and from under her arm. Her green eyes looked yellow and cat-like in the fading light. “What?”

Fox touched her elbow, far from the wound. “An arrow. Here, in your arm.”

Ada squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face down again. She took in several heavy breaths. “I’ll be fine.”

“ _Ada_ ,” Fox said, recognizing Ivan’s tone in his own voice. “Let me help you.”

“I’m  _fine_ ,” Ada tried to insist, but her voice broke with a sob. 

With a flash of fire magic, Fox burned away most of the arrow’s shaft and carefully put his arm around Ada’s waist. Gently, he pulled her away from the tree. “Come on. There’s a creek nearby. We need to wash up anyway.”

“It hurts,” Ada whispered, her voice barely louder than their boots crunching on the underbrush.

“I know, Ad’amica. Come, I can help.”

The tears were clear in her voice and each stuttering step. “I-I know how to use healing herbs.”

“Shh, I know,” Fox said, his voice as low and calm as it was when he was trying to charm a bear away from their camp. They settled next to the stream and Fox quickly washed the blood off himself before turning to help Ada do the same. He eyed her tunic for only a moment before cutting off the entire sleeve. It was one of his old ones, not one Ivan had had made for her. It could be used for bandages. He helped her remove the vambrace and pauldron that only  _just_ hadn’t protected her and then slipped the excess fabric down her arm.

Fox pretended not to notice her tears of exhaustion and pain, but he did lace his fingers with hers for a moment after removing the sleeve. He pressed the fabric into the creek and heated the water to boiling for just an instant with a thought. Ivan would be angry when he realized, but Fox was willing to risk it for this. He handed it to her with his second-best knife. “Here, cut that into bandages.”

Ada made a pained sound, but nodded her head all the same. She held her injured arm dead still, using it as an anchor while she used the other to manipulate and cut the cloth.

Behind her back, Fox bared his teeth and pressed his bare hand tight around the wound. With a hiss, his hand channeled enough frost magic to numb her flesh. With his best knife, he held her wound open while removing the arrowhead. Thankfully it was tapered on both ends and not designed to tear on exit. In a whisper, Fox chanted the only proper creation spell he knew and watched as the flesh knitted back together. It left a thick, but clean scar. He threw the remains of the arrow in the creek. 

He ran a finger over the scar, but her skin was still near-frozen and numb. “It will ache later, but it’s healed now.”

“That was a lot of magic,” Ada whispered, even as she handed him bandages to hide his work.

“And if I’d used it in battle you’d not’ve been hurt, Ad’amica.” Fox returned. He tied the bandages as evenly and tightly as if they had a wound to protect and then redid Ada’s braid to waste enough time to hide his actions. “Hiding it’s for naught if you’re injured regardless.”

At first, Ada said nothing. She didn’t lift her head, but she did turn and pull Fox tight against her until her face was pressed into his shoulder. “You’d be safer if I left.”

“No. I won’t abandon you. Not now, not ever.” As Fox said the words, the finality of them dropped into the pit where his stomach was. Not cold and inevitable, but blazing and dangerous with fervor. Oh.  _Oh_. He ran a hand over her hair. “I swore we’d see you safe, Adamata. And I meant it.”


	5. Animals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Original Link](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175757442849/12-for-the-power-coupleteenage-runaways-or-15-for). [Original Link](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175245746939/we-are-not-going-to-steal-someones-dog-teen). [Original Link](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175863730209/teenage-runaways-sequel-to-this-sort-of).

Mornings were equal parts amazing and torturous. Ada always fell asleep curled next to Fox, between him and the cold tent canvas, but she always woke up completely tangled with him. Usually, it was just her clinging to his back with their arms intertwined, but some few morning she would wake up with her head tucked under his chin and their limbs locked and no space between them. Ada didn’t want to get up, start the day, pull away and keep her distance. Fox wasn’t hers to keep, no matter how much she wanted it.

So she kept her eyes closed and soaked in the warmth of him, the even sound of his heart beat. Tanithil was stirring behind her knees, but hopefully he’d settle again and not wake Fox up. She heard Ivan get up and stretch and leave the tent. Ada pressed harder against Fox, since she couldn’t get any closer.

He made a few sleepy sounds and tightened his arms with hers. Though Fox was still sleeping, he took a deep, audible inhale from the top of her head and made a contented sound before he settled back.

Tears formed in the corners of Ada’s eyes. Everything felt so right and perfect. It wasn’t fair that it couldn’t last. Wasn’t fair that someone else would get to have him.

But that would be later. She had him. He was hers, even if just for the moment.

And she would savor it.

* * *

“Look me in the eyes, both of you,” Ivan said. He stared down at the two squirming teenagers. They hadn’t even done anything wrong, but they looked so guilty. So terribly guilty. “Now repeat after me: we are not going to steal someone’s dog.”

“We’re not  _children_ ,” Ada protested.

Ivan was unmoved. He continued to stare and even crossed his arms and tapped his foot. Finally the two of them sighed, looked down and then back up, then grudgingly said, “We are not going to steal someone’s dog.”

It was three days before Ivan noticed the kitten in Ada’s pocket. He pretended not to notice. She’d earned it.

* * *

 

Teenagers were not known for their subtly. Fox and Ada were guilty of  _something_. They hadn’t returned with a puppy, which was good, but Ivan was equally sure they hadn’t had sex yet. He really wished they would just get it over with. Yes, at first, he had very purposefully made it clear that it would be unwise to fraternize in that fashion

But after eighteen months, they communicated well-enough and respected each other enough that if romance didn’t work, they could still be friends. At this point,  _calling_  it romance was a formality. The two were very obviously in love and-

He was getting sidetracked. They had a secret. One they weren’t particularly good at keeping, but Ivan knew it wasn’t worth invading their trust to figure it out immediately. He would know in time. He sighed and looked over his shoulder at the tent where they were still sleeping. The water on the fire was almost boiling. He’d wake them up after he’d set his tea to seeping. What he wouldn’t pay for a proper cup of Tevinter spiced coffee.

Without looking, he pulled his heavy tankard out of his pack and dug around for his tea. He was carefully pouring the mixture into his strainer when his cup  _meowed_  at him. Ivan lowered his hands and found a black and white kitten with his head peeking up out of his cup. The kitten blinked back at him.

“Ah. Hello, Secret, welcome to the family.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elalavella did a trade with Ocean-in-my-rebel-soul for a fic that comes before this chapter. You can find it [here](https://ocean-in-my-rebel-soul.tumblr.com/post/176855053986/adaalvhen-elashorei-linsamahl-lavellan-what-a).
> 
> [Original Link](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175757442849/12-for-the-power-coupleteenage-runaways-or-15-for). [Original link](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175780933769/caresses-3). [Original Link.](https://tk-duveraun.tumblr.com/post/175048790634/give-me-more-of-that-sweet-sweet-runaway-content)

Mornings were equal parts amazing and torturous. Ada always fell asleep curled next to Fox, between him and the cold tent canvas, but she always woke up completely tangled with him. Usually, it was just her clinging to his back with their arms intertwined, but some few morning she would wake up with her head tucked under his chin and their limbs locked and no space between them. Ada didn’t want to get up, start the day, pull away and keep her distance. Fox wasn’t hers to keep, no matter how much she wanted it.

So she kept her eyes closed and soaked in the warmth of him, the even sound of his heart beat. Tanithil was stirring behind her knees, but hopefully he’d settle again and not wake Fox up. She heard Ivan get up and stretch and leave the tent. Ada pressed harder against Fox, since she couldn’t get any closer.

He made a few sleepy sounds and tightened his arms with hers. Though Fox was still sleeping, he took a deep, audible inhale from the top of her head and made a contented sound before he settled back.

Tears formed in the corners of Ada’s eyes. Everything felt so right and perfect. It wasn’t fair that it couldn’t last. Wasn’t fair that someone else would get to have him.

But that would be later. She had him. He was hers, even if just for the moment.

And she would savor it.

* * *

 

“I’m scared,” Ada whispered. 

Fox squeezed her hand and bumped their shoulders together. Spring had started, but it was still cold enough to justify sitting so close. Ivan was out scouting, looking for signs of Clan Lin’samahl’s passing. Fox knew and, though it pained it, kept it secret from Ada. She knew they were looking for  _a_  clan, but she didn’t know it was  _her_  clan. Ivan hadn’t wanted build up her expectations if they failed to find them.

“What if they don’t want me?”

Oof, the words pierced Fox’s heart, but still he kept his secret. “I can’t imagine anyone not wanting you around.”

Ada’s breath caught and she turned to look at him. She brushed a lock of hair behind his ear, but let her hand linger, lightly touching his cheek,

Fox turned into the touch and his heart stopped in his chest. Their faces were so close. He could feel her breath, though he couldn’t hear it over the sound of his pounding heart. “Adamata…”

“Yes?” Their lips nearly touched at the question. So close, just a hair’s breadth away. 

“They’ll love you.”

* * *

 

“Ada? I don’t- You look so happy.”

Ada’alvhen ignored Fox’s stumbling and instead jumped on him in a full-body hug. She pressed her face into his shoulder and kicked her legs in happiness. “You!”

“Yes. Me,” Fox said. He held her gently, more surprised by her reaction than anything. He hadn’t seen her in three days. Not that he was complaining. It was the first time she’d been reunited with her family in years. He was happy for her, even though this meant their separation.

“You did this! You brought me home.” She pulled back enough to look him in the eyes, but it only lasted for a moment before Ada grabbed him by the ears and pulled him in for a clumsy kiss.

It took a few tries, a few nose-bumps and teeth clacks before they could fall into a natural rhythm, but then it was all warm sighs and soft lips. Fox lifted his hand and cupped Ada’s cheek, holding her at  _just_  the right angle. He didn’t know when he’d closed them, but he opened his eyes. “You didn’t have to-”

“Shush, I’ve wanted to kiss you for months.”

Fox’s quiet ‘oh’ was swallowed by her mouth meeting his again. Ada was more aggressive the second time, pushing him back until she had him pressed against a tree. She was smaller than him, but she put every ounce of her strength to holding him tight between her and the rough bark. She experimentally bit his lip even as she wrapped his long braid around her hand. Oh yes, that made him make a good sound, one that echoed in her chest and made her blood feel too warm for her skin.

Again, Fox broke the kiss. “Ada’amata-”

“No talking, Fox,” she returned, cutting off his name with his lips.

“Even - ah!” Fox gasped when she shifted her hips against his, “Even if it’s to say-”

Ada repeated the movement, watching the way his eyes rolled back in his head. “No talking.”

 


End file.
